North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised tests of long-range cruise missiles, which he described as a successful demonstration of his military's expanding nuclear strike capabilities and readiness for "actual war," state media said Thursday.
Wednesday's tests extended a record number of weapons demonstrations this year by North Korea, which has punctuated its testing activity with threats to preemptively use nuclear weapons against South Korea and the United States if it perceives its leadership as under threat.
Analysts say Kim is exploiting the distraction created by Russia's war on Ukraine, using it as a window to accelerate arms development as he pursues a full-fledged nuclear arsenal that could viably threaten regional U.S. allies and the American homeland.
South Korean officials say Kim may also conduct a nuclear test in the coming weeks or months, escalating a pressure campaign aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power that can negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the two missiles during Wednesday's tests flew for nearly three hours, drawing oval and figure eight-shaped patterns above its western seas, and showed that they can hit targets 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) away. The tests demonstrated the accuracy and war-fighting efficiency of the weapon system that has already been deployed at army units operating "tactical" battlefield nuclear weapons, the agency said.
Kim after the tests praised the readiness of his nuclear combat forces, which he said were fully prepared for "actual war to bring enemies under their control at a blow" with various weapons systems that are "mobile, precise and powerful," according to the report.
He said that the tests send "another clear warning to enemies" and vowed to further expand the operational realm of his nuclear-armed forces to "resolutely deter any crucial military crisis and war crisis at any time and completely take the initiative in it."
The missiles' flight details and characteristics described in state media resembled what North Korea reported in January following the previous demonstration of its long-range cruise missile system, which was first revealed in September last year.
State media photos of Wednesday's test showed a missile leaving an orange tail of flame as it shot out of a launch vehicle. Kim is seen smiling and clapping from a viewing station established inside an arched structure that appears to be a highway tunnel. Experts say the North may intend to use such structures to conceal its weapons before launch.
South Korea's military didn't immediately comment on the latest tests.
The tests were the first known weapons demonstrations by North Korea after it launched 12 ballistic missiles in a span of two weeks through Oct. 9 in what it described as simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean and U.S. targets. Those weapons included a new intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan while demonstrating potential range to reach Guam, a major U.S. military hub in the Pacific, and a short-range missile fired from an unspecified platform inside an inland reservoir.
North Korea said those drills were meant as a warning to Seoul and Washington for staging "dangerous" joint naval exercises involving the nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in recent weeks, which were intended as the allies' show of strength in the face of growing North Korean threats.
Concerns about Kim's expanding nuclear arsenal has grown since his rubber-stamp parliament last month passed a new law that authorized preemptive use of nuclear weapons over a broad range of scenarios, including non-war situations, where it may perceive its leadership as under threat. South Korea's military has since warned North Korea that it would "self-destruct" if it uses its bombs by triggering an "overwhelming" response from the allies.
While Kim's intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting the American homeland have gathered much international attention, he has also been expanding his arsenal of shorter-range weapons aimed at overwhelming missile defences in South Korea. The North describes some of those weapons as "tactical," which experts say communicate a threat to arm them with small battlefield nukes and proactively use them during conflicts to blunt the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the United States, which stations about 28,500 troops in the South.
North Korea's provocative tests and threats have prompted calls by South Korean conservatives for the redeployment of tactical U.S. nuclear weapons, which were removed from South Korean soil in the 1990s, or for the South to pursue its own nuclear weapons capabilities.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol refused to give specific answers when asked whether Seoul will consider requesting Washington to bring back its nukes or undertake a NATO-like "nuclear-sharing" arrangement with his country.
"There are various views being expressed in the government and private sectors of our country and the United States regarding the (U.S.) extended deterrence, and we are carefully listening to those opinions and closely examining various possibilities," Yoon told reporters on Thursday. Yoon has repeatedly stressed his government has no plans to seek its own deterrent.
North Korea has fired more than 40 ballistic and cruise missiles over more than 20 launch events this year, exploiting a divide in the U.N. Security Council deepened over Russia's war on Ukraine. The council's permanent members Moscow and Beijing have rejected U.S.-led proposals to impose tighter sanctions on Pyongyang over its intensified testing activity. Experts say the North's next nuclear test, which would be its seventh overall since 2006, is likely to be the first that the Security Council fails to meet with new sanctions.
Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since early 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against the North and the North's denuclearization steps.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seeking to move up the start of his trial on corruption and bribery charges so he can focus on his campaign for reelection this spring.
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Across Canada, dignitaries marked Remembrance Day by laying wreaths at ceremonies, school children sang in the late fall chill and veterans recalled the horrors of battle.
If Earth's astronomical observatories were to pick up a signal from outer space, it would need an all-hands-on-deck effort to decipher the extraterrestrial message. A father-daughter team of citizen scientists recently deciphered the message. Its meaning, however, remains a mystery.
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A team of tornado experts are investigating a path of damage through Wellington County.
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A local high school honoured veterans of the “Forgotten War†on Monday.
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A B.C. woman who stole more than $14,000 in volunteer-raised funds that were supposed to be spent on school supplies and programs – including hot meals for vulnerable kids – won't spend any time in jail.
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The Southern Alberta Recreation Association is officially announcing the Town of Taber as next year’s host for the Southern Alberta Summer Games.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes broke open a close game with three goals in the first two minutes of the third period as they defeated the Warriors 7-3 in a game played Friday night in Moose Jaw.
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Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus was among approximately 120 people who gathered Sunday night for a candlelight vigil near the scene of a vicious attack against a 16-year-old in Cobalt.
It was just days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down when the Shaft Bottom Boys of Sudbury broke a world record for 'Deepest Concert Underground.' Now, more than four years later, a Timmins band is looking to take the title.
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On Thursday morning, Dave Penny officially ended a suggested hundred-day isolation period that followed his diagnosis and stem cell treatment for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. On Thursday night, Penny returned to a stage at a downtown St. John's bar, regaling a small crowd with songs and stories with a distinctive Newfoundland flair.
A Memorial University scientist says the mysterious white blobs washing up on Newfoundland beaches are actually gobs of plastic -- and they need to be cleaned up.
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